Govt plans to arm FRSC personnel, says Rep
By Odita Sunday, Lagos
PLANS are underway to arm Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) personnel, according to the Chairman of the House Committee on Governmental Affairs, Mr Dayo Ogunbiyi.
Ogunbiyi, who spoke during a tour of FRSC's facilities in Lagos, at the weekend noted that it had become imperative that the commission's personnel should carry arms to enable them perform their duties more effectively, especially given the high risk level of their job.
He said: "Government may now arm the Federal Road Safety Commission considering security implications of its present functions, especially in the area of National Uniform Licensing Scheme."
Ogunbiyi said the committee's visit to Lagos was prompted by reports in newspapers that there are "thousands of fake vehicle number plates in the country.
The committee was conducted round FRSC facilities' including the number plate processing factory at Ojodu and the national uniform licensing factory.
Head of the National Uniform Licensing Scheme, Mr. Sylvester Medugu, who is also a Commander of the FRSC, said a total of 5,833,613 vehicles number plates are officially in circulation.
The FRSC commander said that the present national vehicle identification scheme has other sub-components designed to improve the administration and security of the vehicles.
The components are the Vehicle Identification Tag (VIT), which is issued with number plates and the proof of ownership certificate (POC) which is also issued with the number plate.
Besides, 2,846,902 enhanced national driver's licences had been processed, under the scheme, which has the capacity for connection to a wide area network so that centres will be able to access each other online, as well as the central DataBank, Medugu said.
FRSC is now working towards this networking arrangement, he asserted, while it is also "vigorously pursuing the target of a virile transport system with constant inspection to ascertain roadworthiness of vehicles.
